Stabledash
Stabledash
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Click to play
Host:
Drew Rogers
In this Stabledash Live interview from Stablecoin Conference LATAM 2025, Drew sits down with Bernardo Simonassi, CEO of BlindPay, processing $75 million monthly across five countries while growing 50-100% month-over-month.
The contrarian thesis: Bernardo argues the moat in stablecoin payments isn't product quality. It's licensing. BlindPay's first post-founder hire was their Chief Compliance Officer, burning capital on Money Transmitter Licenses (US), CASP licenses (Europe), and Brazil regulatory frameworks ($800K for that single license). BlindPay's bet is that future consolidation will favor regulated players who can operate globally without friction.
Timestamps:
01:38 - Company overview: $75M monthly volume, 50-100% MoM growth, 5 countries
02:39 - Three Y Combinator applications: $100 to $3,000 monthly revenue arc
05:22 - Y Combinator expectations vs reality: Not a classroom, but founder war stories
07:04 - Structure: First 2 months = sales acceleration, last 2 weeks = fundraising
10:03 - The fundraising sprint: 90 investor calls in 2 weeks
11:27 - First call = $500K commitment before learning how to fundraise
13:18 - The car ride: 468 Capital commits final $800K while driving to Ribbit meeting
15:14 - Demo Day at Palace of Fine Arts: 60 seconds, 174 companies, 1,000+ investors
17:10 - YouTube co-founder Javed Karim invests after 5-minute Demo Day conversation
18:40 - Brazil CASP license: $800K cost reveals regulatory expense reality
19:28 - Thesis: Licenses beat product quality in fintech M&A history
21:19 - Drew's vision: Interactive licensing map on Stabledash directory
About Bernardo Simonassi & BlindPay:
Bernardo Simonassi is CEO of BlindPay, a stablecoin API for global payments. BlindPay scaled from $100 first-month revenue to $75M monthly volume across US, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia. After Y Combinator Winter 2025, Bernardo raised $2.3M from investors including YouTube co-founder Javed Karim and 468 Capital.
About Stabledash Live:
Stabledash Live brings exclusive conversations from leading stablecoin conferences, exploring fundraising journeys, go-to-market strategies, and contrarian theses shaping digital dollar infrastructure.